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Friday, June 25, 2010

"What did Manute Bol and Bones Rodriguez have in common?"

"Former NBA star Manute Bol, the 7-foot-7 Sudanese tribesman who died at 47 on June 19, succumbed to kidney failure and a baffling, deadly skin disease called Stevens-Johnson syndrome."

Well, I'm not 7 foot 7, and I'm TERRIBLE at basketball- but:

I had Steven's Johnson syndrome too!

Yes, I'm making light of a pretty horrific time in my and my families' life, but that's how I do things.

That's me at 5 years old, in the hospital with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.I was in the hospital for about two months, and my parents were told to prepare for my death. I had an earache, and was given penicillin for the infection. Normally, that would be great, but in this case, it was pretty bad.We never found out if it was an allergic reaction to the penicillin, or if the penicillin was a bad batch...

-the hospital "lost" it.

Yeah, really.

It was a long time ago for me, and I figured there was a cure and everything by now. When I heard that Manute had died from it, I found out that we still know so little about the disease... like there are no mandatory reporting rules for adverse drug reactions!!!

Now, I wonder why that is?Well, I guess big pharma doesn't want anyone to know that there drugs might be dangerous!Look, penicillin is a miracle drug, but shouldn't we also try to prevent deaths from it?If you search for "Stevens Johnson Syndrome" on Youtube, you'll be horrified. It can strike anyone from any drug, and it mostly gets little children.You'll be horrified.